Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Sneak peek: chapter two is posted

Yes, this is shameless huckstering but I promise to make it up to you with some knitting content. (I'm too lazy weave in the ends and photograph my completed Irish Hiking Scarf, (designer: Adrian Bazilia) but I will very very shortly. Honestly. I promise. You have my word . . . )

There are new two chapters of CASTING SPELLS available for you to read on my website. They're in the Sneak Peek section but I'll make it easy for you. Just click here and you'll be whisked away. The book won't be out until somewhere around Halloween (official pub date is 11/4 -- Election Day!!) but my first review popped up in my inbox this afternoon and I'm grinning from ear to ear. "Excellent read," says Susan Randall from ARMCHAIR INTERVIEWS.

both contributed some wonderful knitting tips that appear in the book. In fact their hints were so good that the ARMCHAIR INTERVIEW review took note:

Although I am not a knitter myself, the 10 things you need to know about knitting ingeneral are quite funny as well as the 10 things you need to knowabout knitting lace and knitting socks in the back of the book are a keeper.

So here's a big loud heartfelt "Thank you!" to Dawn and Wendy for their help. I owe you one.

And while I have your attention, Fran mentioned Nancy Herkness's fabulous book MUSIC OF THE NIGHT in comments and I have to say I second, third, and fourth her praise. Nancy wrote a taut, sexy, witty, intelligent mystery that swept me up into the very different worlds of music and police work and held me captive until the last page. This comes highly recommended!

One more thing: we'll be adding another writing knitter/knitting writer to the roster in the next few weeks. Caroline Leavitt, whose talent leaves me literally speechless, will be joining us here at Romancing the Yarn. I first discovered Caroline's work around 1982 when I devoured her first novel (I think it was her first) MEETING ROZZY HALFWAY. It's twenty-six years later and I can still remember scenes and passages. That's how good a book it is. I hope you'll take time to visit Caroline's website and get to know her. And check out her blog. I think you'll love her.

Awwww, Barbara, you and Fran are making me blush. Keep it up! :-) Seriously, thank you so much for saying such nice things about MUSIC OF THE NIGHT.

I would like to add that CASTING SPELLS is fabulous! When Barbara puts her trademark wit to work on magic and knitting combined, it's a beautiful thing. My daughter loved CS too and we generally have fairly different tastes in reading. So that's a double compliment.

I enjoyed the excerpt & have preordered the book. I also have copies of 2 of your other books coming to me -- I remember looking for Just Like Heaven at Wal-Mart (sorry, it's about all I have available for shopping) and never saw it, so I have just ordered it, and Just Desserts.